If medical science is to be believed top Bafana Bafana scorer Shaun Bartlett is fit enough to play in Saturday’s crunch World Cup qualifying game against Ghana at FNB Stadium.
A lingering pain resulted in the Bafana striker limping off the training pitch at FNB Stadium on Thursday — and Bartlett was consequently ”rested” from Friday’s final training session at Johannesburg Stadium.
But Bafana general manager Stanley ”Screamer” Tshabalala revealed on Friday afternoon that a medical scan had shown no serious damage in regard to what was initially feared to be a prohibitive hamstring injury.
”Shaun will be all right,” said Tshabalala. ”There was a bit of a scare initially, with an element of exaggeration making the matter look worse than it was. But the doctors have come back with some encouraging news.”
The trouble now is that Bartlett has not featured over 90 minutes of serious soccer for more than six weeks following a knee injury early in May, which kept him out of all Charlton Athletic’s final English Premiership matches.
And there is still the danger as well that he could break down under the physical and mental strain surrounding the uncompromising World Cup clash against the talented Black Stars.
With Bafana now robbed of six first-choice players because of injuries and suspensions and a question mark hanging over Bartlett’s match-condition, a heavy additional burden rests on the go-ahead Delron Buckley, who finished among the top goalscorers in the German Bundesliga last season.
But even here there is an element of uncertainty, with Buckley missing his club’s last six matches of the season because of a suspension.
For all this, Bafana coach Stuart Baxter remained confident and resolute on Friday. ”The players are in the right frame of mind for the challenge ahead,” he said, ”and are confident they can come out of the Ghana game unscathed. You can tell well players are suiably geared for the occasions — and they are can’t wait for the game to begin.”
But the Black Stars, for their part, looked eager and business-like as they trained at FNB Stadium on Friday afternoon — only a matter of 15 hours after arriving in South Africa. – Sapa